— Julie Milton
David Hepworth got a fortnight off from handling the singles, possibly so he could begin plotting how to troll the readers with a less visually appealing review format. (But not to worry, I'm sure the pressure wasn't getting to him) In his place is one Julie Milton, a young woman from somewhere in Britain who calls herself Joolz. This is all I know. I had to infer her nationality because (a) it's a good bet considering Smash Hits was a British publication and (b) Julies from other countries don't tend to go by the nickname 'Joolz'.
Milton hasn't been given a very inspiring batch of records to evaluate. There are several no names (Rockers Express, Niteflyte, Cats UK, a group who didn't have to rename themselves due to an American act of the same name but because of a Dutch unit calling themselves 'The Cats') and some who were fairly big at the time but who no one has any need for nowadays (The Korgis, The Feelies, The Flying Lizards - none of the groups here wasted time trying to come up with a decent band name). To be fair, there are some decent records on offer though the majority as just sort of all right. Milton manages to find about fifteen different ways of saying so this issues which is a credit to her as a writer.
Her two favourites this fortnight are the single below and "International Language" by Richard Strange. She doesn't make it clear which she prefers so I have taken the liberty of choosing on her behalf. (A nice side-effect of doing these early pre-SOTF reviews is that it gives me some degree of freedom of choice) Strange's single is the superior of the two and that's what we're going with here.
Richard Strange. The British punk/post-punk/new wave landscape had been littered with musicians working under stage names. Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Siouxsie Sioux, Billy "Sir Billiam" Idol, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Adam Ant, Sting, Elvis Costello, Fad Gadget and Suggs were just some of the individuals who made their names by taking on a different one. This trend would continue in the eighties with Boy George, Kim Wilde and — huh? — Steve Strange. Yet, the former leader of influential early punks Doctors of Madness had been using his real name all along. I suppose if you're surname is 'Strange' then you might as well run with it.
Doctors of Madness had been a bridge between art rock groups such as Roxy Music and The Velvet Underground and the emerging punk scene. Still, they were too accomplished to fit in comfortably with The Sex Pistols and Ramones. A pair of clips of them performing on Twiggy's TV variety show from 1975 reveals just how close and far apart they were from the next generation: on their opening number (the eponymous "Doctors of Madness"), they sound possessed: sure, they had a violinist but their sound was dark and spooky and perhaps not quite in line with the tastes of the British public in the mid-seventies. That said, they did receive a warm reception from the studio audience. Then, Twiggy joins them for the more ethereal "Perfect Past": though gothic in its own right, there's a folksy beauty to their performance. These people were never going to be marching in step with punk.
The Doctors would split by the end of the decade which prompted Strange to embark on a solo career. By this point, the singer-songwriter pub rockers like Costello, Ian Dury and Nick Lowe were on the ascent, as was the English ska boom and many soul-influenced acts. Strange's work has a lot in common with these diverse scenes but where he differed from many of his contemporaries was in his unwavering belief in his own vision and desire to follow his own path. Pop stardom was doomed but he had making great music to be worried about.
It would be easy just to classify "International Language" as an excellent slice of new wave pop but there's simply too much going on for one category to cope with. Classic songwriting for one: Strange is obviously well-versed in pop-rock at least as far back as The Beatles (he had just turned twenty-nine by this point; during the late seventies, most of the better songwriters tended to be a bit older than the average punk since they were able to better cut their teeth on Lennon, McCartney, Davies, Dylan, Wilson and Holland-Dozier-Holland). There are production tricks that recall Joe Meek far more than any punk-era studio boffin.
Whatever influences are at play, "International Language" is a superlative effort and Milton is right to be hopeful of more to come. It's one of those songs that breezes along so effortlessly that the listener can end up ignoring all the varying ingredients. Subsequent listens gradually reveal everything going on giving each individual play its own unique characteristics. And yet, it all feels very natural. Whereas the overly put upon nature of Talking Heads can begin to grate after a while, the whole has a welcome flow. Strange's vocals bounce around refreshingly irony-free.
Is it criminal that it missed the charts? Well, certainly the top 40 would have been a better place with it as a member but it's hard to imagine it catching on with hundreds of thousands of people. Some people are there to plant the seeds but they fail to reap the rewards. As Brian Eno once said, "only 10,000 people bought the first Doctors of Madness album but everyone who did formed a band and adopted a unique stage name". As opposed to Richard Strange.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Brass Construction: "Music Makes You Feel Like Dancing"
Brooklyn's Brass Construction once had a hit with their single "Movin'" during the early days of disco. It's a great song loaded with urgency and it shows you how seemlessly funk veterans were able to change with the times — up to a point, at least. With disco now on the wane, the group sounds like they're floundering and it points to just how much of a cookie cutter genre it could be even in competent hands. Milton confidently proclaims that everyone will love it which could be true if not for the fact that many of us have heard this sort of thing before. Disco didn't need to die but it sure was in need of a change. Luckily, it would be coming before long.
